TVSquad

The Comic-Con ad campaign that featured Showtime's Dexter buddying up with a bright-eyed little serial-killer-in-training is spreading into the mainstream media and onto the show's online merchandise page.

Dexter producers added the new diapered supporting character at the end of last season. To build buzz for the show's Comic-Con panel, Showtime plastered posters like the one shown around the San Diego Convention Center, area buses, billboards, etc.

I questioned at the time where the line between cute and creepy resides when the campaign equates baby behavior with serial murder -- and maybe cannibalism in the ads where the kid is splattered with red jam.

But, cute vs. creepy becomes a moot point when Showtime begins marching out the Dexter baby gear. Now your baby can wear a onesie or bib featuring a death and dismemberment gag. Can a doll featuring the next generation avenging killer be far behind?

Future ideas for Showtime product tie-ins could include a Dexter rubber teething ax, a Dexter line of viscera-patterned diapers, and a Dexter's Guide to Parenting book. That last one couldn't be any less effective or more terrifying then the Dr. Spock effort in the 1970s.